Happy Toasted Marshmallow Day!

Yes, today is toasted marshmallow day and to celebrate, this post is dedicated to a few Pins Lindsey and I have containing marshmallows! What a glorious day it is! So I hope everyone who sees this post is inspired and toasts some marshmallows, I know I'll have to try at least one of these delicious looking Pins tonight!

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Enjoy!

Thirsty Thursdays: Strawberry Limeade Vodka

We are extra thirsty this Thursday. With weather remaining in the triple digits here in Dallas, it's no wonder this drink sounds refreshing, and who can resist strawberries & vodka? Here's the refreshing Pin from Pinterest:

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It takes a little extra mouse clicking to find the website with the receipe so in case you are not up for a little bit of a hunt, here's the recipe:

Ingredients for Strawberry Limade:

• 1 Pint (750ml) of S. Pellegrino sparkling mineral water (I'm sure regualr mineral water works fine)
• 1/2 cup Lime Juice
• 12 oz. of Strawberries, rinsed and hulled
• 1/2 cup of honey or agave
• 1 lime, sliced for garnish

Then just add vodka, as much, or a little as you desire! Drink up and Enjoy!

These Are a Few of Our Favorite Things: Owl Cupcakes

Who doesn't love cupcakes? I know we are obsessed with them; there are so many clever and creative things you can make with cupcakes. For example, todays post! I made these for the kids while my German relatives were still in town. They were a hoot...couldn't help myself with the cheap joke! I wanted to make something fun for the kids since the adults were busy indulging on the delicious Italian Cream Cake with Strawberries (click here for that delectable post) so I logged onto Pinterest and checked out my boards and found this charming Pin:

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These cupcakes were easy, and fun to make. Extra supplies include: regular chocolate M&M's, or Reese's Pieces were an option I considered, and Oreo's (I used the Double Stuff Oreo's). As for the batter and icing, I used a Pillsbury Chocolate Cake Mix and Chocolate Pillsbury Frosting. Super easy. Here's how mine turned out:

Here's one without the Oreo ears

The kids loved them, and the adults couldn't resist either! These are defiantly a great option for fall birthday parties!

Enjoy!

These Are A Few Of Our Favorite Things: All That Glitters is Gold

Most of my boards are an extreme testament to the extreme level of girliness my personal tastes tend to lean toward. Pastel or neon bright colors, bows, romantic and girly home ideas, and of course ...glitter, and lots of it.

So, for our favorite things feature this week, we are focusing on the shiny & sparkly side of life.

I'd like this for an evening purse. It also has a chain link strap if you don't want to carry it as a clutch. Betsey Johnson, available at Bloomingdales's.

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Someday, I hope I have somewhere to wear a dress that is this beautiful to.

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Fantastic cocktail and special night out dress.

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Love this top with black jeggins and heels, or with shorts and wedges

for a more causal take on glitter. Made by Vince, on sale on Net-A-Porter.

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 This dress is simply stunning!

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 Hope these pictures brighten up your days as much as they did mine! Enjoy!

10 Summer Polish Picks

Why do women love nail polish so much? Do we view it as some sort of fashionable expression of ourselves, or do we simply like seeing a pretty color when we look down at our hands? Whatever the reason from a fairly early age, little girls recognize how enjoyable nail polish is to our gender. We can easily mix and match different nail polish, or go all out and paint our nails crazy designs & colors that pop off our hands. Whatever you preferences are below is 10 of our favorite summer nail polish colors from Pinterest!

Way One: Go Barefoot

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Way Two: OPI Mermaid's Tears

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Way Three: Coral!

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Way Four:  OPI Sparrow Me The Drama

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Way Five: Our Favorite (seriously, been on our nails for most of summer)
 Cajun Shrimp

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 Way Six: Hot "Pink" Aboo

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Way Seven: Nothin Blue About It

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Way Eight: OPI Strawberry Margarita

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Way Nine: Fun & Funky

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Way Ten: Bright Yellow Summer

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Enjoy!

This Week's Quote: The World Needs People Who Have Come Alive

Since I started my life in corporate America, and have watched many of my other friends do the same, I find myself asking people almost every day what they like most about their jobs. Some answer with sincerity and conviction as they describe the people, relationships, and tasks of their jobs that fill them with excitement and joy, others speak of their exhausting schedules and draining existence.

No, your job is not your life, but it is quite a big piece of it... so I can only hope such a big piece of your life makes you feel alive, and not reduced to half of your real self on a daily basis.

In my cheesy Carpe Diem moment of the day, I would plead for you to start looking for a new job if it doesn't make you feel like this quote does below. Life is too short to be anything but happy.

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These Are a Few of Our Favorite Things: Italian Cream Cake with Strawberries

Horray for Friday!! We hope everyone had an efficient and successful work week. My German relatives are spending their last weekend in America so I thought I would make a delicious cake for the weekend. I logged onto Pinterest and found this delectable Pin: 

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It's an Italian cream cake with strawberries. Obviously I had to try this cake. This recipe wasn't too difficult, but I was very happy to have my Grandmother's (we call her Nomie) help. The recipe calls for the basic ingredients, butter, sugar, flour, but you have to separate the egg whites for one of the 3 mixtures you have to make. Here's how our cake turned out:

Man oh man was it good! Personally, it's the best cake recipe I've tried! I think the trick is folding the egg whites into the butter, buttermilk, and flour mixture. 

A little advice before making this cake:

1. If you want the strawberries to really stand out in this cake be sure to buy enough strawberries (we almost ran out).

2. Be sure to have the eggs & butter at room temperature, this really makes a difference!

3. Use 3 separate round cake pans, if you only have two don't try and bake two layers and wait to bake the third layer when the other two have cooled, the cake batter will go bad!

4. Make sure you have greased and floured the round cake pans.

Seriously people, you gotta try this recipe! Enjoy!

10 Pairs We Must Wear

We've seen so many adorable pairs of shoes on Pinterest that we had to dedicate a post to our top 10 favorite summer pairs! We'd be delighted to have any pair of these cute shoes.

Pair One: Cute Summer Wedges

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Pair Two: Bright Colors

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Pair Three: Sassy Sandals

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Pair Four: Make a Statement

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Pair Five: Sparks Will Fly

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Pair Six: Silvery Starfish

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Pair Seven: Tory Can Do No Wrong

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Pair Eight: Dress for Day, Dress for Night

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Pair Nine: Funky Flats

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Pair Ten: Simply Sophisticated

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Hope your work week is going fast, Friday will be here soon. Enjoy!

This Week's Quote: Sweatpants & DVR

Happy Monday everyone! We both had a busy weekend celebrating Lindsey settling into her apartment and getting to go on a trip of a lifetime (in case you forgot, she gets to go to Australia) but unfortunately, Monday reared its ugly head. I know we both had demanding work days today (hence the extremely short post) so I think this quote from Pinterest is a good summary on how we feel about Mondays…

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Neither of us are the biggest TV fans, but it's nice to come home from a long day at work, change into comfy clothes, eat a good dinner, and unwind! Enjoy!

Blueberry Lemon Cupcakes!

TGIF! We both had extra busy work weeks so we are looking forward to sleeping in, laying out by the pool, and having fun!

A little more than a week ago, one of our best friends moved to China to teach English, so before she left we gathered our group of friends together for one last hoora. While plans we're made, we decided to make something extra delicious for our soon to be foreign friend. When we couldn't think of anything new and exciting to try, we ventured to our dear friend Pinterest. After about 2mins of searching we discovered this Pin:

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And we knew exactly what we were going to make! This recipe was very easy. The cupcake batter called for the essentials; sugar, butter, flour etc. and of course blueberries and lemon zest. The cream cheese frosting was also very simple; butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar and, you guessed it...more lemon.

We did however, have a few notes about this recipe. The cupcake batter calls for the zest of 1 lemon...I think we eventually used the zest of 2 lemons (we like a more distinct lemon flavor). But the interesting part was getting the frosting right. The recipe called for 3 cups of powdered sugar, 1tbsp of lemon juice and the zest of 1 lemon. I think we used the juice of one lemon, the zest of 2 lemons and about 6 cups of sugar. It was a little difficult to get the right consistency for the frosting, but after experimenting a little, we got it just right!

Here's how ours turned out:

They were excellent! We would definitely recommend this recipe. Let us know if you try it! Happy Weekend & Enjoy!

Yes, We Are Still Breathing!

So sorry for our lack of posting this week! It has been so incredibly busy for both of us starting this past weekend, that the blog got a bit on the un-prioritized list. But don’t worry; we have some fun things that we have been up to (cooking, decorating, etc.) that have happened because of things that inspired us from Pinterest!

In case you’re wondering what we have been up to:

Lindsey was in Charlotte, North Carolina for a week for her first official business trip! I got back last Friday night and quickly loaded up the U-Haul waiting at my parents’ house so I could be as “ready” as possible to move to my new apartment on Saturday morning! Which is exactly what I did all day Saturday…. Pack and unpack and try and get things at least livable for the first night at the apartment. Unfortunately, the wrong couch got delivered, so the living room has no seating in it at the moment. It’s sort of funny though… the couch that got delivered was METALLIC silver- ha… no bueno, it wasn’t even like we could just get over having a different couch, this one had to go pronto. I spent most of Sunday picking up some fun finds with my mom to make a mini-gallery wall, and complete some other decorative projects in the apartment, which we are sure there will be a post about next week.

I also got (what I think) is just about the coolest opportunity ever… I get to go… drum roll please…………. to Sydney for my next business trip!!! I have wanted to go to Australia ever since I can remember, so I have pretty much been talking about how excited I am repetitively for the past 48 hours. Don't worry, I will tell you all about it when I get back! I am headed to a party my mom is hosting today after work, and tomorrow… thank God… is Friday, so hopefully we can get back into the swing of things.

Kelsey has had a seriously busy weekend/week too! As you probably can see from the post on Friday, my relatives from Germany have been in town for most of the week, so we have been entertaining, cooking, and shopping up a storm over at my house! I made a few delicious Pinterest finds for the family (Italian Cream Cake with Strawberries and Owl Cupcakes for the kids), which unfortunately Lindsey didn't get to try, but were a big hit! We all attempted to swim in the pool, but it's so hot here the pool water feels more like bath water. It was also my Dad's 52nd birthday a few days ago, so we were busy celebrating! We have another reason to celebrate on the work front... I have my first official account! It's a ricotta cheese account, so I will be in charge of managing everything for that particular customer! Now all I have to do is figure out how to go with Lindsey to Australia!

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Expect some delicious, and creative posts here in the next couple of days! Enjoy!